Like a loose bobbin come with me as I wind through the twists and tangles of quilting

Monday, March 21, 2016

Leaves, leaves, and more leaves

Who knew that you could get the image of a leaf onto fabric without a lot of dye. A while ago I attended a workshop at Sorrento Centre here in British Columbia lead by Catherine Nicolls. Using a variety of inks, paints, stamps and pigma pens, we marked up our fabric and ended up with some wonderful renditions of leaves. Here are some of my results.

I'm now charged with the task of turning the printed fabric into a "practical" item. Homework for our next gathering this October. Hmmm, gotta think on that.

We also experimented with eco-printing. We used silk blend scarves, eucalyptus, amaranth, and maple leaves. First we soaked the scarves in a mixture of water and vinegar (sorry can't remember the ratio), laid the scarves out and placed the leaves along one half of the length of the scarf.

Then we folded the scarf in half lengthwise, rolled it round a skewer and added it to a pot along with an old railroad spike. See...

Next some onion skins were added for good measure...

Water added and set to boil overnight. We kept going out to see what was happening if anything.

After getting them out of the pot, this is what they looked like before unwrapping.

And then it came time to unwrap. Here is half of mine. You can see that the portion of the scarf that was most exposed is darker and shows the resist of the wrapping tape.

Here is a closer look.

Thanks for stopping by and visiting. I'm off to see if my creative muse will talk to me today.

About Me

I live in Vernon, British Columbia. I attempted my first quilt back in 1993, and haven't looked back. My fabric stash has grown, as have the number of quilts I have made, donated and given as gifts. Visit for a while and please feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts.